Weights and Measures Act, 1994

This section gives the Act its short title: the Weights and Measures Act.

This section defines terms used in the Act.

The International System of Units is the authorised measure for measurements in trade in Zambia, and the Minister may amend any Schedule by statutory instrument.

The Minister must authorise necessary standards of weights and measures, and national standards must meet specified composition, verification, protection, notice, and calibration-certificate requirements.

The Minister must verify every national standard at least once every ten years, and update it if needed.

The national standard must be kept at a laboratory set up by the Zambia Bureau of Standards.

The Superintendent Assizer must prepare, verify, and authenticate copies of national standards as secondary standards, re-check them every two years, and stop their use if a deficiency is found.

Assizers must compare their working standards with secondary standards every 12 months, make any needed corrections before certifying, and the Superintendent Assizer may cancel a working standard.

The Superintendent Assizer must maintain equipment for the safe storage and use of standards.

The Minister appoints a Superintendent Assizer, who must attend Committee meetings, may address them, and must not vote.

The Minister may appoint assizers and other staff needed to administer the Act.

An assizer must verify weights and measuring instruments, maintain standard equipment, keep required records and reports, and follow the Superintendent Assizer’s directions.

This provision establishes the Assizes Committee.

The Committee must be made up of the listed nominated members, and it must choose a Chairperson and Vice-Chairperson from among its members.

People may apply to the Superintendent Assizer for a certificate for an instrument’s design or pattern, and the Superintendent can issue, amend, cancel, or reissue certificates in specified cases.

An Assizer must assize or re-assize every instrument brought to him, at fixed times and places and on payment of the prescribed fee.

An assizer may require a person to produce trade instruments for re-assize by written notice, and failure to comply can be an offence.

If an assizer finds an instrument compliant on test, the assizer must stamp or mark it and, where appropriate, seal or lock it.

An Assizer who finds an instrument non-compliant on test must reject it, mark it with the prescribed mark, and give the person in charge a written statement of rejection.

An assizer must not stamp or seal an instrument with the prescribed stamp of assize unless the instrument passes the listed conditions, including testing against the appropriate working standards.

Contracts and dealings for goods sold or measured by weight or measure must use the relevant authorised units, or multiples of them.

This section says the Part does not apply to sales of food for human consumption on or at the seller’s premises.

Certain sellers or packers must provide and use an assized instrument for weighing or measuring goods, and keep it visible or nearby for verification.

A person must not circulate price lists, catalogues, or similar documents that use non-authorised weight, length, or capacity measures for goods sold by weight or measure.

Any person who directly or indirectly uses an approved pattern of any instrument for trade commits an offence and may be fined, imprisoned for up to six months, or both.

It is an offence to forge, alter, deface, remove, reuse, or sell trade instruments with forged or altered stamps, except for a limited repair/adjustment exemption.

A person must not use or keep for use in trade an instrument that is unauthorized, contrary to the Act or regulations, false, incorrect, or not stamped with the prescribed stamp or seal of assize.

If someone holds an unassized instrument for use in trade, they must promptly get it assized or re-assized, or obtain written authority from an assizer.

A person must not use, possess for use in trade, hire out, permit, or condone the use of a false or unjust instrument in trade.

Selling, offering for sale, or keeping for sale an instrument without a current valid stamp or seal of assize is an offence, unless the instrument was not made for trade and is clearly marked “NOT FOR TRADE USE.”

Fraud committed in the use of an instrument can lead to a fine of up to 10,000 penalty units, imprisonment for up to 12 months, or both.

A person must not make false or incorrect statements about goods’ weight or measure, or sell goods in a short quantity or at the wrong unit price.

A person must not sell or offer for sale goods in a weight or measure denomination not authorised by the Act.

A defendant charged under this Act can require another person to be brought before the court if the defendant gives notice and says the offence was caused by that person’s act or default.

A person who breaks this Act or its regulations, where no specific penalty is set, can be fined or imprisoned on conviction; harsher penalties apply for repeat offences and for offences committed with intent to defraud.

If a body corporate is convicted of an offence, directors and people involved in management may be treated as having committed the same offence if they knowingly authorised or allowed the act or omission.

An assizer may enter places and vehicles, inspect and measure trade instruments and articles, seize items used contrary to the Act, and order people to assist or produce records. Failure to comply is an offence.

A person may not make, manufacture, repair, sell, offer, expose, or keep for repair or sale any instrument unless they hold a valid licence from the Superintendent Assizer.

In proceedings under this Act, certain facts are presumed unless the contrary is proved.

The Attorney-General may go to court to recover a fee owed under this Act.

If an instrument is found with a trader or on trade premises, the person is treated as having possession of it for trade purposes under this Act.

Courts must accept a qualifying assizer’s document as prima facie evidence when it is produced by any person.

If someone is convicted of an offence under this Act, the court may order the items used to commit the offence to be forfeited to the Republic.

The Minister may make regulations by statutory instrument for matters the Act requires or permits to be prescribed, or that are needed to carry out the Act’s purposes.

This section defines the metre as a unit of length based on the distance light travels in vacuum in 1/299 792 458 of a second.

This provision defines several SI units, including the kilogram, second, ampere, kelvin, candela, and mole.

This provision defines the radian, the steradian, and what counts as a derived SI unit.

This text lists SI prefixes and permitted units, and says the permitted units may be used with SI units and their multiples and submultiples.

This section is titled “Short title” and the source text shown also lists units of time and their definitions, including minute, hour, day, week, and calendar year.

This provision lists pressure units: tonne bar and standard atmosphere (atm).

This section lists basic unit and temperature conversion equivalents.

A nautical mile is 1,852 metres.

This provision lists lawful units of measurement and gives their meanings or conversions.

This provision lists capacity measures: 10 litres, 2 litres, 5 litres, and 1 litre.

Lists several volume amounts in litres and millilitres.

This section lists weight units, from kilograms down to milligrams.

This section lists metric carat weights: 500, 200, 100, 50, 20, 10, 5, 2, and 1 carat.

This provision lists linear measures: 50 metres, 30 metres, 20 metres, 10 metres, 5 metres, 3 metres, and 2 metres.

This text sets out certificate forms for verification of secondary standards and examination of working standards, and it begins the schedule on how certain goods are to be sold by weight.

This provision covers all food stuffs except those specified elsewhere in the Schedule.

This item lists cleaning and scouring powder, soap flakes, soap powder, and detergents, but excludes liquid detergents and detergents exceeding 5 litres.

This section is headed “Solid fertilisers, agricultural material and agricultural salt.”

Section title: “Solid insecticides and solid fungicides.”

This provision appears to label “Solid polishes and dressings analogous to solid polishes.”

The provided text identifies Section 16 (“Cotton”) in Part II (“By weight or number”) of the Weights and Measures Act, 1994.

Section 8 is titled “Sweetening tablets and soft drink tablets” and indicates Part III covers matters by capacity measure.

This item describes liquid fuel to include liquid fuel other than liquid petroleum gas, lubricating oil up to 20 litres, and any mixture of liquid fuel and lubricating oil.

This section is titled “Liquid fungicides and liquid insecticides.”

This provision lists liquid polishes and liquid dressings analogous to polishes.

Lists liquid soap and liquid detergents, with liquid detergents limited to not exceeding 5 litres.

This provision is a section heading for “Distemper” and refers to Part IV, “By weight or capacity measure.”

This item refers to lubricating oil in quantities exceeding 20 litres.

This provision heading concerns milk exceeding 5 litres.

This section names paint, varnish, lacquer, and paint remover.

Section heading for toilet preparations under Part IV, by weight or linear measure.

This provision refers to quantities in which certain goods must be pre-packed.

This provision lists the allowed package sizes for bacon and sausage, barley, and beans or peas.

This section lists assized instruments and sizes for certain goods.

The text lists weight amounts: 50g, 100g, 150g, 200g, 300g, 400g, 500g, and 1kg, then says it continues in steps, but the sentence is incomplete.

This provision lists permitted package sizes and measurement steps for various goods, using weights and volumes such as grams, kilograms, millilitres, and litres.

Lists goods and the weight or measure statements associated with them.

This section defines “paint” but excludes paint packed in tubes, jars, or boxes commonly sold as artists’ or children’s paints.

This section is titled “Sewing, knitting and embroidery cotton.”

This provision lists coffee, tea (other than tea in chests), cocoa powder, and chicory mixture.

This provision names cooking fat, including dripping, lard, and shredded suet.

Section 24 is titled “Edible oil.”

This provision lists flour of oats, rice, beans, rye, soya beans, and self-raising flour.

This section is titled “Liquid fungicides and liquid insecticides.”

Lists liquid soap and liquid detergent, with a limit of 5 litres.

Lubricating oil, excluding grease, is covered only up to 20 litres.

This provision lists maize flour, maize grain, and maize bran.

This section is titled “Margarine and mixture of butter and margarine.”

This provision covers milk up to 5 litres, excluding evaporated unsweetened milk and sweetened condensed milk.

This provision mentions milk powder, including milk food and milk food substitutes for feeding infants.

Section title: “Solid polish (other than shoe polish).”

55. Toilet paper. By Laws.Africa and contributors. Licensed under CC-BY. Share widely and freely. 33 Weights and Measures Act, 1994 (Chapter 403) Zambia Repealed Thirteenth Schedule (Section 14) The Assizers Committee

Committee members covered by this section serve for three years, may be reappointed once for another three years, may resign with one month’s written notice, and their office becomes vacant on listed events.

The Committee may do anything necessary to administer the Act, including testing instruments, setting up facilities, maintaining standards, stamping correct instruments, controlling sales by measure, regulating petroleum transport and sale, approving new weighing and measuring patterns, examining repair mechanics, running seminars, and recommending policy.

The Committee may regulate its own procedure, subject to this Act.

Committee members may be paid remuneration, and the Committee decides the amount.

A committee member who has a private interest in a matter being discussed must disclose it soon after the meeting starts and must not join the discussion or vote unless the Committee directs otherwise.

A Committee member must not make money from, or be employed in, making or adjusting weights and measures instruments, and must not charge fees for such adjustments while in office.

The Committee is funded from amounts appropriated by Parliament.